Actuating mechanism for elevator-doors



"(No=M0de1.) E. B. TAYLOR.

AG'IUATING MEGHANISM FOR BLEVATOR DOORS. a No'. 504,096.

Patented Aug. 29, .1893.

lill/fil UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

EDMUND B. TAYLOR, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR-DOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 504,096, dated August29,1893.

Application led October I5, 1892. Serial No. 448,953. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be 1t known that I, EDMUND B. TAYLOR, of Lowell, county of Middlesex,State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in ActuatlngMechanism for Elevator-Doors, of winch the following description, inconnection w1t h theaccompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

A very common form of elevator apparatus now 1n use comprises a Well orpassageway for the elevator car or cage, extending to the top of thebuilding, said Well having at each floor a sultable opening normallyclosed by a Sllding door. Generally the doors are opened and closed bythe elevator attendant at the stopping and starting of the cage, butthis is objectionable, as the attendant becomes careless and loftenopens or closes the door at the wrong time, and sometimes neglectsaltogether to close it.

Many devices have been proposed which have for their object theoperation of the doors automatically, and this invention belongs to suchclass.

My invention has for its object the product1on of a very simple devicewhich will automatlcally open and close the doors in an elevator well,by or through the movement of the c age, and which may be readilyapplied to many elevator apparatus now in use, with but little changeand small cost.

In .accordance therewith my invention conslsts 1n an elevator wellprovided with an openlng, aldoor therefor, and a traveling cage,combined with a lever pivoted to the interior of the Well and in thepath of movement of the cage, and connections between said door andlever, the cage engaging one or the other lever arm and positivelymoving the lever on its pivot in one or the other direction when thecage approaches or recedes from the open lng to thereby open and closethe door positively, substantially as will be described.

Other features of this invention will be herelnafterdescribed andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure l, shows in vertical section an elevator well, looking fromwithin toward the outside, with my invention in place, the door belngshown closed, and the cage in dotted lines, as just beyond the floorlevel. Fig. 2,

is a similar view, the door being shown as open and the cage, indicatedby dotted lines, is at the floor level; and Fig. 3, is a detail to bereferred to.

The side walls A, A of the elevator well are herein shown in section,and as solid, for convenience of illustration, andthe front wall B ofthe well, in which the usual door openings are made, is also supposed tobe solid, though the composition or structure of the walls is immaterialin so far as my invention is concerned.

I have herein shown a lever a pivoted at its center a upon the innerside of the front wall B a short distance above the top of the dooropening, said lever being substantially twice as long as the width ofthe door opening.

The door opening b, see Fig. 2, is closed in usual manner by a slidingdoor b', herein shown as supported on a railbX at its top, and isconnected to the ends a2, a3 of the lever a by flexible connections l,2, fastened to said ends respectively, and to the door b2 near itsforward edge, said connections passing over suitable sheaves or rolls 3,4 secured to the wall.

The lever ends a2, a3 are provided with lugs or projections c, csubstantially at right angles thereto, and normally in the paths ofmovement of pins e, f respectively, said pins, shown in dotted lines,being placed on the outer front side ot' the cage C, alsoshown in dottedlines.

As an inspection of the drawings will show, the pin e is located alittle above the top of the cage door-way, and the pin f is elevated byasuitable standard f some distance above the top of the cage and at theside nearest the wail A.

Viewing Fig. l, the door b is closed, and let it be supposed that thecage in its upward movement has reached the position shown. The lug c isin the path of the pin f and will be engaged thereby upon the fartherupward movement of the cage, and by the time the cage floor has reachedthe lioor level, see Fig. 2, the lever a will have been moved into theposition shown in Fig. 2, the pin f having passed out of engagement withand beyond the lug c', and during such movement of the lever the door bhas been drawn back from IGO the opening bby the connection 2. With theparts in the position shown in Fig. 2, farther upward movement of thecage will bring the pin e into engagement with the lug c and the leverwill assume the position shovn in Fig. 1, closing the door by theconnection 1. If the cage moves down from theposition shown in Fig. 2,the pin f will engage lug c and depress the end a3 of the lever, closingthe door. When the cage is above the lever a, and moving down, the pin ewill engage the upturned end a2 of thelever, see Fig. 2, and willdepress it to open the door by the time the cage reaches the iioorlevel. Thus it will be seen that no matter whether thev cage is going upor down each door will be opened upon the approach, and closed at thedeparture of the cage, by the action of one or the other of the pins@,f, upon its corresponding lug upon the lever ct.

As shown in the drawings, I have secured to the wall B above the pivotaaspring having divergent arms s', s2 to act upon the lever at oppositesides of its center. When one of the pins on the cage has elevated oneof the lever ends to the highest point, compressing the spring arm onthe same side of the pivot, and has passed out of engagement with thelever, the spring arm will press the lever back into normal position,slightly elevating the depressed and lowering the elevated end of thelever until the lugs c, c are again in the paths of the pins e and f.The connections l and 2 are not drawn taut between the lever ends andthe point b2 on the door, in order to permit aslight movement of thelever without moving the door.

It is sometimes desirable to have the doors at one or more of the floorsof the building remain closed unless manually opened, as for instance,in a building Where one or moreintermediate floors are unoccupied, orlittle used. To adapt my herein described apparatus to such conditions,I have made thelever ends n.2 and a3 separate, and have hinged theni tothe extremities of the lever aby any suit-able spring-controlled hinge7i, the end a2 turning on its hinge downwardly, and the end as upwardly,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The ends a2, a3 are normally prevented fromturning on their hinges by suitable bolts a5, a, so that they move withthe lever a, but when it is desired to throw any door operating deviceout of automatic action the bolts are drawn,leaving the ends free to bemoved on their hinges. Referring to Fig. 1, and supposing the bolts a5,a6, to be withdrawn, the door is shown as shut and when the cage risesthe pin fwill iirst engage its lugo and turn the end a3 on its hingeuntil said pin passes out of engagement therewith without moving thelever a, and the pin e will thereafter iinpinge against the lug c andwillpress the end ot the lever upward for a short distance against thespring arm s until the pin passes out of engagement with thelug. Vhenthe cage descends, the above action is reversed, the end a2 yielding tothe pressure of the pin e, and turning on its hinge, while pin fdepi'esses the lever at one end and raisers the other slightly againstthe spring arm s until tlie pins one after another leave theirrespective lugs. This movement ot the lever and its ends a2, a3 ispermitted by the slackness of the connections 1 and 2.

It is evident that any suitable spring in ay be used to co-operate withthe lever, or its weight alone may be sufficient to return it to itsnormal position atter disengagement. of the pins and lugs, and anysuitable locking device may be substituted for the bolts shown betweenthe lever and its hinged ends, the gist of my invention consisting in anactuating lever connected with the door and operated by the cage to openand shut the door,

and I do not wish to restrict myself to the' specific construction andarrangeinentof parts as herein shown. i

1. An elevator well provided with an opening, a door therefor, and atraveling cage, combined with a lever pivoted to the interior of thewell and in the path of movement ot the cage, andconnections betweensaid door and lever, the cage engaging one or the other lever arm andpositively moving the lever on its pivot in one or the other directionwhen the cage approaches or recedes from the opening, to thereby openand close the door positively, substantially as described:

2. An elevator well provided with an opening, a door therefor, and atraveling cage hav- `ing upon its exterior two pins or projections atdifferent heights, combined with, a lever I pivoted tothe interior ofthe well, connections between it and the door, and lugs on the levereach in the path of movement of and to be engaged by one of said pins,whereby the lever is turned in one or the other direction by themovement of the cage to simultaneously open or close the doorpositively, substantially as described.

3; In an apparatus for actuating elevator doors, a lever pivoted to theinner wall of the Well, a spring to act upon each side ot the pivotalpoint of said lever to maintain 1t in normal position and a lug uponeach of the lever ends, and a door connected to and moved by the lever,combined with a cage, pins thereon in different horizontal planes toengage said lugs singly and move the. lever to open and shut the door,the connections p ermitting and the spring taking up lost motion of thelever, substantially as described.

4. An apparatus for actuating elevator doors, comprising a pivoted leverhavingseparate hinged ends adapted to move in opposite directions, a lugon each end',and locking devices to normallymaintain said ends rigidwith the lever, combined with a cage provided With external pins orprojections to engage said lugs and move the lever in one or the otherdirection and adapted, to turn the lever ends on their hinges withoutactuating the lever when the locking devices are disengaged,substantially as described.

IOO

IIO

5. An elevator well provided with a door opening, a sliding doortherefor, and a traveling cage having an upper and lower pin upon itsexterior, combined with a springpressed lever connected with the door,and a lug at each lever end in the p ath of movement of one of saidpins', movement of the cage toward the door bringing one of said pinsinto engagement with its lug to turn the lever, the other pin engagingits lug thereafter and restoring the lever to its first position, therespective lugs being brought automatically into the paths of movementof the pins, substantially as described.

6. A pivoted lever having ends a2, a3 hinged thereto, and lockingdevices therefor, lugs c,

c on said ends, a sliding door, and Iiexible connections between thedoor and lever ends, combined with a cage, pins e, f to engage and movethe lugs c, c respectively, and a spring having arms s', s2 to act uponopposite sides of the pivotal point of said lever, to place the lugs inthe paths of the pins, substantially as and 1for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of,

two subscribing witnesses.

EDMUND B. TAYLOR.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK L. EMERY, JOHN C..EDwARDs.

